


lying furr fun and purr-ofit

by whichlights



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Cats, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Support Animals, Fluff, M/M, Neilmas2019, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 19:22:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17534702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichlights/pseuds/whichlights
Summary: Situation: Andrew and Neil have been signed to a new team, together. It’s several states away from the old one. They need to find a new apartment.Problem: All of the apartments close enough to the court to get to practice on time are pet free. They own two cats.Solution: Neil talks to Betsy Dobson and gets Sir and King signed as emotional support cats. They will be then be allowed into the apartment.It seems so clear cut in the planning stages.





	lying furr fun and purr-ofit

**Author's Note:**

> day 6 of neilmas right on schedule for animals !

Situation: Andrew and Neil have been signed to a new team, together. It’s several states away from the old one. They need to find a new apartment. 

Problem: All of the apartments close enough to the court to get to practice on time are pet free. They own two cats. 

Solution: Neil talks to Betsy Dobson and gets Sir and King signed as emotional support cats. They will be then be allowed into the apartment.

It seems so clear cut in the planning stages. 

\---

Neil’s foot tapped on the waiting room floor. Sir Fat Cat McCatterson and King Fluffkins were both in their carriers, even though Sir loudly protested against not being able to sit on Neil’s head. He ignored her for a bit, then promised her softly that later, she could drape herself over him later. 

Neil was pretty sure this was a terrible idea, even if he’d been the one to come up with it. But he knew Betsy, and Betsy would leap at any chance to be able to say he was finally opening up to her and “dealing with his feelings”. And he refused to live anywhere without the cats, no matter how much his new team paid him. 

Betsy let him in. “Neil! What a surprise to see you. I heard you transfered- congratulations.”

“Can you sign my cats as emotional support animals?” Neil asked. He had his prepared lies ready. Well. Only half of them were lies. 

Betsy just smiled. It was a soft smile, full of understanding. Neil hated it. 

“Of course.”

—- - -

“Paperwork’s in the works. Give it about forty eight hours, and they’ll be all signed, letters and everything,” Neil announced, finally letting the cats out of their carriers and into the house. 

“You sound unbearably smug about this,” Andrew commented. 

“I like the cats,” Neil said. 

“I know.”

Neil sat down, and Sir took her opportunity to sit on his head. 

\---

After that, flying to Chicago and getting settled in was easy. The cats were allowed to live there. 

Yep. Neil was  _ definitely  _ unbearably smug about the entire ordeal. 

\---

The first time The Thing happens, Neil and Andrew were watching a movie. King was happily flopped next to Neil, and Andrew was curled into his side. 

A gunshot went off. 

Neil froze. Andrew turned off the movie- even though the sound hadn’t come from it -and muttered, “Abram.”

Neil knew, logically, it probably wasn’t a gunshot. But goddamn had it sounded like it. The scar on his collarbone itched. 

King gave a loud meow, demanding Neil’s attention. He rubbed against Neil’s side, obviously disappointed that Neil’s constant light pets had gone away. 

Neil found himself smiling. “It- it’s okay.”

He pet the cat. He felt better. 

—- - -

The next time The Thing happened, Neil was just at the apartment, in a strange state of not sad and not happy. He was used to that, usually, but he’d been so happy for so long it was strange to not feel it anymore. 

Sir and King were play fighting in the living room. He watched them for a while, and found himself smiling. He went to grab the feather toy that King loved, and sure enough King pounced on it first chance he got. 

Normal cats, doing normal cat things. Neil was smiling. He’d never thought he’d get to have normal cats who did normal cat things, like play, and meow, and eat. 

Eat. He needed to fill up their bowls. 

He went to feed the cats. He felt better. 

\---

The third time The Thing happened, Neil stopped thinking it was weird. 

He was stressed about finals, and their chances, and how he’d been playing. He’d lost two weeks of play due to an injury, so he wasn’t sure how the team thought about his skills. He liked this town and he liked this team and he liked being here, with Andrew, with the cats. He didn’t want to give the team reason to drop him. 

Logically it wasn’t logical to worry about it. But anxiety wasn’t logical. 

“I’m going to go get the cats,” Neil said. “Be right back.”

“The cats?” Andrew asked. 

“Kevin sent me a study or something about how petting animals reduces anxiety.”

“Might as well get your money’s worth out of those ESAs, hm.”

Neil blinked. “It was free,” he pointed out. “And they’re not  _ really  _ ESAs.” He was fine. Sir and King only needed to be emotional support cats for housing. 

Andrew narrowed his eyes but didn’t comment on it more. Neil rolled his eyes.

He went to get the cats. He felt better. 

\---

The Thing kept happening. Neil accepted The Thing into his life. 

The cats didn’t do anything special or different. They just acted like cats. Normal, wonderful, impossible cats that he never thought he would get to have.

The Thing was that when those wonderfully normal cats did their wonderfully normal cat things, all of Neil’s worries went to the back of his mind. He smiled easier and he always felt better. 

\---

A new apartment complex had been built. It was closer to the court, and it was actually pet friendly. They moved there.  

Neil still found himself updating the paperwork and keeping Sir and King as ESAs. Because. 

Huh. 

\---

“I think Sir and King are actually emotional support cats,” Neil said, a week into their new apartment. It was much bigger than the old one. Andrew could be a bit materialistic. 

“Duh,” Andrew said and ate a bite of ice cream. 

“What?”

Andrew stared at him for a little. “I assumed that was why you got them liscensed?” 

“I got them liscensed so I could keep them in the non pet apartment.”

Andrew stared at him for longer. “Did you really not notice that they helped calm you down and generally make you happier?”

“They’ve always done that.”

“That’s my point.”

Neil blinked. “That was my point, too.”

“Did you  _ just  _ realize how much they’ve been helping you?”

“Well.”

“You really are the dumbest idiot,” he said fondly. Neil shrugged at the not-untrue accusation. 

\---

Neil scritched the back of Sir’s ears. She purred loudly. King stepped on his lap and nudged the bag of treats he had. 

He loved his cats. They made him feel better. 

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is witchlightsands, and ive only been away from my cat for an hour and i miss her more than life


End file.
